


Enough

by Ranunculaceae



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Aunt May Is Awesome, Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Crying, Gen, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Protective May Parker (Spider-Man), Reunions, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-28
Updated: 2019-04-28
Packaged: 2020-02-08 16:42:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18627166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ranunculaceae/pseuds/Ranunculaceae
Summary: MAJOR ENDGAME SPOILERSIf you haven't, go watch the movie then come backAunt May’s experience during the reawakening





	Enough

**Author's Note:**

> I saw Endgame Friday night and purged all of this today
> 
> Do not read if you haven't seen it (unless you like things spoiled who am I to judge)

 

May Parker stands by the side of her patient’s bed, jotting notes in the chart in her arms while the television chatters quietly behind her. The man in the bed is asleep, but the low volume remains as the nursing staff all know that he rests better with something in the background.

She tucks a stray strand of hair that’s fallen out of her bun behind her ear and gazes at his oxygen stats while some married couple in the sitcom go back and forth about their daughter’s dating troubles, sentences punctuated by a forced laugh track.

Her gaze falls to the pages in front of her again when the wife is cut off, and a new woman’s commanding voice interrupts.

“Breaking: what appears to be an alien space craft has been spotted north of New York City.”

May whirls so fast that her head spins, her eyes blown wide as they lock onto the screen. Outside in the hallways, the subdued chatter increases as footsteps hurry to change direction.

There’s a grainy photo from someone’s phone being shown, taken from miles away, but a red arrow indicates the distant form of a ship hovering above water.

“We’ll be on the scene with news crews shortly and updates as the scene unfolds, but for now I’m joined by my colleague-”

May looks towards the door as a group of people rushes past, calling for the television in the nurse’s station to be turned on. She takes a step to join them, but instead grabs the remote and raises the volume.

“Residents of the Hudson River Valley are cautioned to stay indoors and avoid travel.”

She blinks, feeling lost, as the first kicks of adrenaline course through her. She doesn’t know what to do. After all of these invasions that she’s lived through, she still never has a solid plan of action. Her mind had always gone straight to Peter and making sure he’s safe, but now?

She holds the clipboard and remote to her chest as she moves to stand at the foot of the bed, closer to the television, but through her racing thoughts, only snippets of the conversation reach her.

“-revealed to be the Avengers facility, now reportedly destroyed-”

“-similar to the attack on New York in 2012-”

“-related to the ship from five years ago-?”

“What’s going on?” The confused, sleep-thick voice of the man behind her reaches her ears, and she looks over her shoulder at him.

She opens her mouth, and belatedly replies, “I don’t know.”

“May? Are you watching in here?” Another nurse strides quickly into the room to stand at her side as May nods at her, and all three return their attention to the news.

In the corner of the screen, an amateur video is being projected, while the news anchor connects with various officers, professors, and other reporters. After a few minutes, May touches the other nurse’s arm, and being so engrossed, she jumps a little in shock.

“We should go make sure everyone is staying calm. Hold down the fort here.”

She nods. “Of course.”

May lingers to make sure her patient is settled, then follows the woman’s retreating footsteps.

It’s chaos. Children are crying, people are shouting. She goes from person to person, directing wandering patients with wide eyes back to their rooms and assuring them that they are safe here. It’s an empty promise that she doesn’t actually know will be kept, but it calms a few people enough.

Over the intercoms, a man orders everyone to stay where they are and that they will remain updated. He cautions against leaving the building, though May still sees many families rushing for the stairs and elevators.

She doesn’t know how long exactly it takes, but eventually the panic has settled enough that she can drift towards the group of people crowded around the nearest screen, all watching in shock.

Then, a scream from down the hallway.

Everyone turns, and May’s blood runs cold, all of them expecting another ship or some other form of invasion to have been spotted out the window. At first the cause isn’t apparent, and everyone stares, until the clouds of dust start swirling around them.

No one breathes, because it’s happening again.

May stumbles away, heart racing, as dust flies past her face. Disoriented, she looks around as she tries to figure out who has just vanished around her.

But instead of floating away, the dust collects into one spot, and May gapes as a man solidifies.

She’s there the moment that his lungs gasp a breath and catches his arm to steady him.

“I’ve got you, you’re alright,” she soothes, though she’s not actually looking at him anymore.

All down the hallways, the same thing is happening. People are reappearing and stumbling back into life. The voices around her are deafening as people scream and shout for each other. Bodies run past.

May backs away from the man and almost bumps into someone else. She doesn’t apologize, because her mind is far away.

Peter.

Her head swims. Her chest lurches for breath. She breaks away from the crowd and sets off at a run for the stairs, and through the sudden crowd, she still catches parts of what is being said frantically on the televisions.

“It’s the vanished. Everyone, everywhere. They’re returning.”

 

Outside the hospital, it’s worse. People are running, and cars are veered off the road and into the sidewalks. All around, people are awakening as the wind carries the dust back into their bodies. As she runs, a little girl forms, and her eyes immediately dart up to latch onto May’s.

“Mommy-?”

May stops dead in her tracks. “Go inside there,” May pants, pointing her towards the doors of the hospital. “They can help you. Go.” May pauses long enough to steer her towards the entrance, and as soon as she sees her step through, she’s running again.

Once in the car, she jabs at her radio to turn on the news and listens to the broadcast as she swerves out of her parking spot, and hope leaps into her throat and blurs her vision with unshed tears at what she hears.

“Portals! There are portals now, and hundreds of people coming through to join in the fight. Folks, I urge you, if you are anywhere near the area, stay inside and off the roads, do not come anywhere near-”

If anyone had been in the car with her to witness her driving when May leaves the parking lot and weaves down the streets, they’d be gripping their seat and crossing themselves while reciting a prayer, but May has a mission to accomplish. She has a boy to bring home, and she knows exactly where he’s going to be.

May probably breaks every single traffic law on the way, but everyone is too preoccupied with the dead coming alive again to stop her.

That is, until she reaches the onramp to the highway that will take her upstate.

It seems that everyone has a similar idea, because traffic is jammed and unmoving, and ahead, she can see a group of officers has mobilized to create a barrier keeping cars from leaving and heading north. May swears under her breath and rests her head in her palm, elbow propped against the window of the car, as her mind flies to think of a new plan. The radio continues on.

“It is a battlefield here on the banks of the Hudson river where the New Avengers facility once stood. Aliens, and supposedly the Avengers, at war. We still do not know why they have-”

A black van roars past her on the shoulder and almost hits her, drawing her violently from her thoughts. It stops ahead at the road block, and a familiar figure, a man who she’s only heard about in conversations with Peter, Pepper, and Tony and has seen moving purposefully at the other ends of hallways but would be recognized instantly, emerges and approaches an officer across the lanes.

May is out of her own car and sprinting down the middle of the congested street a second later.

The man looks flustered and panicked as he flashes a badge at the officer and appears to speak quickly as he points beyond the road. They go back and forth, until she sees the officer hesitate before nodding and calling over a few other men, and her target starts to retreat back towards the van just as she reaches them.

“Nick Fury?” May calls.

Fury stills, shocked, and scans the scene until his eye lands on her as she comes to stop just a few feet away. A car honks at them.

“Do I know-?” he starts to say, but May interrupts.

“You’re heading to the Avengers compound? I need to get there.”

Fury appraises her before shaking his head and pulling open the door to the van.

“No civilians. This isn’t a taxi. Go home, stay where it’s safe.”

May hurries forward a few more steps, the desperation thick in her voice.

“Wait! Peter. Spider-Man. I’m his aunt. If he’s there and he’s back- I need to get to him.”

Fury stops again, half out of the car, and looks back at her.

“It’s not safe,” he repeats. “You should-”

“Please,” May cuts him off again. “He’s all I have. I need to be there.”

Fury fixes her with a look, then turns to glance into the car towards the woman watching him.

“Quickly!” The officer is calling towards them. “We have to keep everyone else back.”

The woman in the car nods curtly. “We don’t have time.”

Fury releases a long-suffering sigh, then gestures towards the back seat. “Let’s go.”

“Thank you,” May deflates as she climbs into the car, and the doors slam shut. Fury drives them through the opening in the barricade as car horns blare and people shout behind them, though it quickly fades as he floors it.

“We’re getting a Quinjet to fly us out there,” Fury says without taking his eyes off the open highway. “When we get there, you stay back where we tell you to. If we tell you to stay put, you stay put. If you’re told to run, you run. Understood?”

Fury looks briefly in the rearview mirror to lock his gaze with May, who nods. “Of course.”

“Good.”

The drive is short. They have the radio on at a low volume, but May’s focus is on the other woman, who she learns to be Agent Hill, as she communicates urgently with someone else. It offers much more insight to what the radio host is trying to piece together.

The Avengers are there. Wakanda is there. The ship gets torn apart and collapses into the river. The battle rages on.

They eventually pull into an open area hidden deep down a rural road, where the jet is parked and waiting, when Agent Hill suddenly goes still and touches the comm in her ear.

“The fight stopped,” she announces lowly. “The aliens disappeared.” She looks towards Fury, eyes round.

“We need to move. Now.” Fury doesn’t even shut off the engine before he shoves open the car door and sets off at a jog towards the aircraft. May follows at an equal pace.

 

The scene when they land just ten minutes later is eerily still. From the air, they see that there are hundreds of people gathered among the wreckage that used to be the compound, but when May steps out onto the lawn behind Fury and Agent Hill, it’s far too quiet.

Many are just coming up out of the rubble over the side of the cliff, helping each other. May’s hands are clasped together at her chest as they approach, until about halfway, Fury extends a hand back towards her.

“Wait here. Be ready to head back to the jet on my signal.” He pauses, seeming to consider her. “If he’s here, we’ll try bring him to you. Agent Hill?”

The two carry on towards the throng while May lingers, eyes incessantly scanning the faces as they appear. Fury and Hill immediately split and vanish into the mess, and it takes every bit of May’s strength to not run in after them.

She doesn’t know how long she stands there, waiting, watching as the heroes come up onto the lawn. Some glance her way, but no one approaches, and they immediately cast their eyes back to each other or at the ground. She doesn’t miss the way that everyone’s tired smiles are shrouded with something heavier.

Something is wrong.

They’ve won, but it’s clear that something has also been lost.

Fury appears again, with a new woman at his side, with short hair and decked in red and blue. They stand close, talking at the edge of the crowd, until she turns and reaches a hand towards another person that steps up hesitantly. She grips their shoulder momentarily, then faces where May stands and gestures towards her, leading the two of them away from Fury and forward a few steps.

Peter lifts his head, and he and May gaze at each other.

He’s moving towards her. May can barely see past the tears rapidly forming in her eyes and rolling down her cheeks. Her legs work without her telling them to, as she staggers forward a few feet before she’s rushing to close the remaining distance between them across the lawn.

She sees Peter release something of a laugh, choked on a sob, and his arms open the moment before finally, after so many years of waiting and hoping and praying to anybody who will listen, May grabs Peter and pulls him to her chest. A hand lands on the back of his head, in his hair, while her other arm is in a vice around his back. Peter’s nose burrows into the curve of her neck as he holds her just as tightly.

They’re both shaking and gasping, and she’s not sure which tremors belong to either of them, but together they slowly drop to kneel on the ground, never breaking apart.

“Peter,” May chokes. “Peter, baby, are you okay?”

“May.” Peter’s voice is equally strangled and incredibly small, and she rubs his back through the suit.

“I’m here. I’ve got you.” She draws a shuddering breath and closes her eyes. “I love you so much.”

Peter sniffs, and she feels his hands clutching her. “I’m sorry,” he whimpers.

“For what?”

Peter doesn’t answer right away. “For- for leaving. Getting on the ship. Not being here.”

May shakes her head firmly. “It’s okay. You’re here. You’re safe.”

She feels Peter’s chest expand against her, and he shudders. “It was him, May,” Peter cries into her shoulder. “Tony. Mr. Stark, he did it, he-” A sob works its way from Peter’s chest and breaks May’s heart, and she clutches him closer.

“It’s okay,” she whispers.

“I just came back. Someone- it’s been five years? And I didn’t even get to-” Peter sobs again. “I don’t know what to- He’s already gone.”

May’s eyes squeeze shut impossibly tighter as she grips the back of Peter’s neck. She doesn’t know what to do either. She wishes she did. She wishes she could do anything.

“It has been five years,” she agrees quietly instead. “We- we can talk about that later. But Peter-” She sighs, lost. “I’m so sorry. We’ll get you through this together.”

She feels Peter nod, though he doesn’t respond. She draws away the arm around him to wipe at her face before leaning back on her heels as the hand at his neck guides him away.

Her eyes take in that face that she’s missed so dearly. Peter has his chin ducked but he lifts his puppy-dog eyes to meet hers. It makes her stomach twist. She wants to take his pain away so badly.

And damn it if she won’t try, but she needs a place to start. “What happened, baby?” May asks quietly.

Peter blinks, his brow creasing. “He got rid of him,” he tells her simply. “The guy, Thanos, he did all this, the snap, that made me-” A hard swallow. “You know. And Tony, he- he got rid of him, but-” Peter has to draw a breath, and May opens her mouth, but he keeps talking.

“I- I was there. With him, when he- I saw him and talked to him, twice, at least, before-” Peter bites his lip hard enough that the skin turns white, and he looks away. “It’s something,” he decides resignedly. “Maybe it was enough.”

May nods. “It was,” she assures, and she means it, because knowing Peter, whatever exchange they had had, it would have been. Gently, she reaches up to push Peter’s hair back from his forehead. “You were there. It has to be.”

She leans in and presses her lips to his forehead, letting them linger for a second before pulling back again.

May cups Peter’s cheek and gives him a soft smile when she sees his lip wobbling. “He’d be really proud of you, Peter,” she tells him as she brushes her thumb to catch a tear that slides past it. “He was. He really cared about you.”

That has Peter crying fully again, so May draws him in back to her. She tucks his shoulder safely back under her chin and looks towards the crowd picking their way around the rubble, the people who had all sacrificed so much to bring her baby home.

“We all do.”

**Author's Note:**

> Scream with me in the comments


End file.
